Have you heard about the cobra snake that recently escaped from the Bronx Zoo? It recently set up its own Twitter account, and this snake gets around! All over New York. Seeing the sights.
Anyway, the snake charmer song that you always hear whenever snakes, Arabia, or belly dancing is mentioned is actually in no way related to any of those things. You know that tune I'm talking about. In cartoons or movies, there's a guy sitting in front of a basket with a clarinet-like instrument playing the melody while a snake, usually a cobra, pops its head out and dances along.
Two things: 1) The cobra (or any snake, really) is actually more interested in the motion of the instrument than the sound. Snakes "hear" by vibrations, mostly, but they can hear somewhat. The movement is more interesting to them, as it could be potentional prey (FOOOD!!).
2) The song in question was written in the U.S., not the far East. It is, reportedly, written by a member of the House of Representatives (and former showman) named Sol Bloom. He picked it out on the piano for the "Street of Cairo" attraction at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. From what I can tell, it wasn't copyrighted, so is Public Domain.
This has been a non-venomous nibble. Can't speak for the cobra though...
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